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... I ... I ... to Opinion Journal Live from Wall Street Journal's headquarters in your city ... well the big breaking news today it was comments out of Vice President Joe Biden ... the win why that the Romney Ryan camp is going to put the nation backing chains ... and I quote ... for unleashing ... the big banks here to join me to talk about this ... Italy called inflammatory attack is assistant editorial page editor ... James Freeman James welcomed things for ... sale to the Obama campaign spokeswoman Stephanie cutter ... said the president doesn't really have a problem ... with these remarks is in chains remarks ... it should be ... well I guess given the theres the ministry here we've heard from the Obama camp that the ... Mitt Romney ... is a felon ... that he ... killed the guy's wife ALM so it's leaving all the spring as in chains the kind of ... seems a more or less expected ... raising it was interesting to see ... of course was like Andrea Mitchell ... not necessarily lead to top on the Democrats of pushing back there while I don't know where they taken from the euro may want to say the early in the fall campaign ... let's talk facts ... We for the sunny sunny and added the campaign the bank's cause the financial crisis there currently ... isn't true ... well I think you look at the really government roots in terms of how did we get to two thousand The and that the it's always popular when things go wrong disagree because that this this this so suddenly pops up on the landscape ... great as a part of the financial markets and part of life all the time but that ... you look at this government mainly in the early part of the two thousands in the nineties really began to get everyone into a house in the new up ... you look at the Federal Reserve pushing money out there pushing credit that their ... lot of our government fingerprints on this disaster ... James now I it let's let's talk about the one factor that the vice president today ... David didn't talk about the president never talks about which is the voting record ... of the president ... when he was a senator was he for ... reforming these institutions is the cod was in charge the pricing was not for us ... reforming the of the two housing giants ... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac really of the really the heart of the of the mortgage crisis meanwhile Paul Ryan it turns out was an early backer of reform on the people it was still might've saved aside billions of dollars ... but also a ... Mr Obama signed on to this effort to support is getting a little technical but it was the isthe consolidated ... the supervisory program at the Securities Exchange Commission basically it was the bank as regulatory disaster of the of the pre crisis era of this is that ... the process that was regulating Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and a ... subway at ... present seems to like to go back to that pre crisis history I don't think it's can be very kind of the people really study and the kids you have experience if the ACCC no one seems to be cut by one of the regulation ... but let's talk about that that other facet of this is it's a complicated that topic ... ICC regulations on the present was in the Senate ... is also in his relationship with Goldman Sachs which is I understand it was a big proponent ... um of getting the NCC on on board to ... he was on Goldman's side on the island of this is ... I it's it's kind of interesting because they ... the president of this point he's got away with the it's a staple of every campaign speech that the mess ... that happened on them in the Bush years ... happen because of taxes were cut and a ... and banks were ... allowed to make up their own roles then ... of course that's the ... that's a fantasy of the Sarbanes Oxley during the Bush years the Reserve vast explosion of financial regulation so ... I think it is those to me etc challenge in this campaign it's a it's going to create a problem for these given in a new campaign speech among others the chance ... what also about that the employees of the Obama administration helped cause the crisis at me ... it's not as if the president is that by twenty on and off the said well now it now I get it now we have to reform now yet to get these people out of the system you know as ... soon as the asthe that there was the promise that the lobbyist were going to be part of his administration I ... seem to recall that from the campaign the transition period ... Tom Donilon among other senior official the Obama administration had been a a ... a lobbyist ... for Fannie Mae and so ... others industry there also of course the during his campaign in Magic Johnson really the architect of Fannie Mae was the ... leading the vice presidential search for a candidate Obama until ... this was brought to light then ... it was something of an embarrassment had to ... a dish of Mr. Johnson decided ... to ... bet that the iam ... but the pre Euro Crisis history of what you see is it's ... using met Romney not ... involved in the federal government and then you see Paul Ryan ... and growling voice in the wilderness saying don't let these are the monsters get better control than on the ... the Obama Biden ticket it's it's really a United motor industry for them ... okay well thank you James James Freeman thanks for the system editorial page editor with the Wall Street Journal ... we're going to stay on the economic scene Allen go down to our nation's capital ... where editorial board member Steve Moore ... we know Peter is waiting ... but the doc about his political diary today ... various online four hundred economists said the Doris Mitt Romney ... Steve welcome ... Stein earned ... sixty ... four Nobel Prize winners have signed on to this ... really interesting statement for four hundred ... a Gary Becker Robert ... Lucas Robert and Dell Edward Prescott ... is supporting the Romney reform plan ... why should we care ... well you know these things happen every campaign where the Republicans get their economists to support them and the Democrats ensure that Brock Obama will have ... his lap when economists to say how wonderful this program is ... one of things I found interesting about the statement Wednesday that just the high caliber levels of iconic image in the porno Baosteel ... people like our laughter and another just very esteemed ... well renowned of Martin Feldstein White's alot front page saying look very enthusiastically we think that this approach ... of cutting tax rates getting the debt down through spending reduction de regulating Kony like you or dislike about with James that these are the write prescriptions for the economy so I think they kiss ... the Romney why an op program a little bit of kind of authenticity I think the kids the good house capping ... housekeeping seal of approval ... Steve ... doesn't also open up the campaign to attack it that they are really taking out ... the supply side platform are black for the father of supply side economics ... sign on to this statement we use it for a bit of core support supply side economics ... um but ... the response of the charge of a given that the trickle down ... economics slander that the Democrats will put out ... well for the year a friend I ... pray I I mean you're right that's exactly what they are going to say they are saying and I live in Virginia so I see these ads almost every night on TV of you know ... replied that the Democrats have two glasses of right now ... the the Republicans want cut Medicare is the one I can I cut taxes for the rest is to speak on this kind of mock trial ... odd that the Democrats played over and over and over again and the real challenge I think for this campaign ... will be whether the American people continue to offer them at a scare campaign because it's it's out in full force right now ... or are they as the public reading this fall writes as detrimental conversation about what we do ... about a program whose costs are going to double from five hundred billion in nearly a trillion dollars over the next eleven years ... Steve what interesting things about the Romney Ryan platforms that they focus on growth ... can a say yes we a big debts but were never going to get out of the stats bite ... bite taxing we've got a ... I just cut spending we've also got to grow ... um is the message that these economists can help ... amplify for the campaign ... um have big band out there on the campaign trail are they talking about it in a reading of pants ... um or is this really the first time that we've seen ... that growth message echoed such a degree in economics community ... well I think the Rio issue here Mary is not what these economists say I mean is a sad day give some intellectual firepower of backing for this but it's a message that has to be carried by Mitt Romney and how about Paul Ryan and one of the reasons I've been so enthusiastic about all begun to think it isn't just about nobody in the country who's better at talking about the growth message that Paul Ryan the you know you know it's twenty eight she came with captain ... rig and I think he is the new Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan in terms of ... being ... able ... to ... educate the American people bought white wrote this all important in getting the stock's about by the way it's not a very complicated Masa defeated economy isn't growing and keep on working companies are making profits the breakdown says in the dumps it goes up it doesn't go down ... Steve is that history that we can look at here and thinking maybe ... of the Reagan era ... I didn't read these these programs are put into place where ... their tangible numbers and figures that that the American public and look at ... and that the campaign can use to make this point ... well it has about one a lot of the editorial pages lately about my favorite line is that over the last problem forty fifty years without for major tax rate reductions very similar what men ... Romney wants that the tax cuts under Jack Kennedy in nineteen sixty four the Reagan tax cuts in eighty one the Tax Reform Act of eighty six which was supported by Democrats and then the Bush tax cuts and two thousandthree and in every one of those is this is Mary ... the share of taxes paid by the rich white op and that the present one dollar ... amazing but true and it ... is amazing ... how Steve Waugh Wall Street Journal editorial board member thank you so much for being a good night with us in you can read Political diary every week and a B S J ... dot com ... I can accept what the presidential candidates learn from far off Hong Kong ... state in ... welcome back to Opinion Journal Live Blog you're looking at a very impressive bust ... of the former financial secretary of Hong Kong ... Sir John capris ways ... I never thought that we we have the opportunity to discuss this man and his legacy and what he means and what lessons we can learn from him but ... life throws you a lot of surprises and this is one of them ... here to talk about Sir John is main Street Columnist Bill McGurn Bill ... welcomed thank you ... I doubt ... you were a resident ... of Hong Kong's very ... many years ago and I met Sir John ... tell us about ... who this man is ... and why he's just in your column today that we could learn a thing ... well ... two things came together ... first is recently ... Governor Romney said in London that he would restore the bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval that President Bush had the Oval office ... and that the same that having the moving offices inside ... Dow Jones the building here ... and I had went bust of John James company but ... this would be a great companion for Winston Churchill once in church on foreign policy ... John Kell for freedom domestic policy ... he was the financial secretary of honk on this rebuilding responsible ... for the financial miracle that Hong Kong became ... a fact that they could be fair to say Milton Friedman's favorite ... politician ... you know across the world ... Hong Kong one of the world's ... most protected free is ... resists most prosperous economy in the world has no natural resources ... nothing there so ... I'm what they build a bill to their own ... it didn't build that if I run with it that way ... they had a great quote in the column today that Sir John said it was a tiny said quote ... if I let them ... meaning bureaucrats keep statistics they can only misuse than what any way what he meant was I noticed that for Hong Kong ... as you probably notice when you are there there's a whole period where there are no statistics for GDP ... Vixens filled with estimates ... and I found out he was Financial Secretariat that I mean he for bad ... is officials from keeping alot statistics ... and when I asked him he said if I let them keep them ... really misuse them ... later when I was reading in the Milton Friedman I realize it's called Milton Friedman the same thing in nineteen sixty three ... and once when somebody from a developing country was asking what they could do he said abolish the office of ... National statistics I think it was right ... the interesting thing is he does it'll top of him ... and Milton Friedman Friedman just who is who is glowing about cup or plate ... and cup or plate said that when Friedman came out in summer nineteen sixty three Friedman was all ... kind of ... is hands like this beauty couldn't believe that there was a guy that ... was on the same wavelength as he wasn't there was a place that is ... putting his principles and practice ... now don't you you mention in your column that during your time in the White House ... I this is my it my bus but wait you have another who am I and others to beat you with CERN this bus towards the wall when things like ethanol or get occasionally Nikkei's Lane in the White House there are things that ... would not be done show we say the Hong Kong way ... and so with the fiddle subsidies my speakers fees we saw ... this recap equates to face turned toward the waltz we wouldn't be offended ... now availability of so I'd I'd love this message really respect the legacy ... of search on how Weber ... um ... so really tough message to sell ... on the environment like today to where it seems to be bipartisan agreement that you know we need more regulation of financial system ... on their insurance companies on ... seemingly every productive part of our economy so ... I how would you advise Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to take this message translate well I would agree with you that sometimes it's a hard sell to sell the market option which is ... belief in the people's ability to do things the post being directed by the government ... any copper pray but you had someone very rare someone who is ... very smart ... the new smart enough to know he was not smarter than the people ... I would say what's harder ... than which are asking ... is the half to it which sometimes Governor Romney gives the impression of that to make half the market to ... if you read Sir John's quotes is you've read from the legislative debates ... I mean he does with ... debate he was Paul Ryan people did not want to challenge him because he had an answer ... and he understood that every time you tax money you're taking it from Peter to pay Paul ... when you generate a kidney from people that are politically connected ... and rich away from people who wore it ... and it was Hong Kong's great gifts that he stopped ... for as long as the caddy stop that over parking lots in all sorts of things so I have committed that main Street Columnist Bill McGurn a can read Bill's column today ... on Sir John in the miracle of Hong Kong ... I next up is Egypt's new government heading for military to ... states and ... welcome back to Opinion Journal Live were headed to Egypt now ... for my next guest says that there may be eight who in the works ... I'm joined by global view columnist Bret Stephens eating the bread every Susanna Wall Street Journal op practices is I haven't heard ... anywhere else ... the last I heard there was a conflict in the Sinai in the military chief installed ... you combine those two things and come out with a possible you will that was the true ... we've had that ... the coupe was Egypt's New President Mohammad Morsi member of the Muslim Brotherhood ... took the opportunity political opportunity in the opening that was presented by this incident in the Sinai ... which sixteen soldiers were killed ... to very summarily sacked his defense minister who until a few months ago that basically ruled the country field Marshal to Talia ... the chief of Army staff to chief of the Navy said the chief of the Navy chief of the airport's basically ... the ... decapitated the senior ranks the visit of of his military ... and he installed his own people ... you know until now we've been saying Russell's well ... a Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt ... is in such a big deal because after all the real power behind the throne ... is a military that understands the benefit of peace with Israel that understands the benefit of a strong strategic relationship with the United States ... well guess what as of Sunday ... that's no longer true ... as of Sunday Mohammad Morsi ... is ... a president with full power in Egypt and with his own man in the military now Brett uptake doubles the devil's advocate position here the new military chief says he supports ... the kid is really a court ... eyes is suppose Lee has a long relationship with the United States military was trains here in the eighties ... um is this such ... a bad deal with this is exactly what the Obama administration the way they seem to be consoling themselves we've known this guy for many years he trained at Fort Benning back in nineteen eighty one ... book that's all probably true ... okay ... that's not important what's important is that the president of Egypt is to said to his army ... who's your daddy ... and your dad ... I'm the guy who points the defense minister I'm the guy who points the the the the the Chiefs the Chiefs of staff ... and I can fire them just ... um just as easily ... get the thing that time of President Morsi did over the weekend which was important that you revolt this ... constitutional decreed that the army had passed just back in June before Morsi's ... on the ... election which is that he gave the army ... a constitutional right ... to or an outsize role over civilian governments ... that's gone ... so on one hand you might say great Egypt now as democracy there are some generals leading in the wings ... on the other hand there is no institutional track on the Brotherhood's power over the half to leave it that that will stay with you for updates in the days and weeks to come Brett Stevens global view columnist thanks for being with this that to be ... that's it for Opinion Journal Live today I'm Mary Kissel with The Wall Street Journal editorial board ... thanks for watching ...